Making an exit: Capitol character retires after guarding Senate chamber doors for 33 years

Tommy Hunt, who works for the Senate Sergeant at Arms, has been wearing the same smiley face tie for the opening day of session for 33 years. Here he mans the door to the Senate chambers on Tuesday, Jan 9, 2018, the opening day of the legislative session.(Photo: Hali Tauxe/Democrat)Buy Photo

On the opening day of the 2018 session, Tommy Hunt wore a tie adorned with smiley faces. It’s the same tie he’s worn on opening day for more than three decades. But this will be the tie’s last hurrah. Hunt is retiring at the end of session from a 33-year career with the Senate Sergeant at Arm’s Office.

During session, Hunt’s official duties include guarding the doors to the Senate chambers. He must make sure no one gets in who shouldn’t be there. Hunt says he’s memorized thousands of faces – every senator, every representative and Cabinet member—since Bob Graham was in the Governor's Mansion.

Unofficially, he sees his job as a chance to make everyone’s day just a little bit better. The smiley-face tie is part of his stable of 120 comedic neckties.

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Tommy Hunt, who works for the Senate Sergeant at Arms, has been wearing the same smiley face tie for the opening day of session for 33 years. This is his and the tie's last year as he looks forward to a retirement of fishing and golfing. Here he shows the tie to Kennedy Grace Byrnes (10 mo.), Sen. Lauren Book's, D-Plantation, daughter on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, the opening day of the legislative session as the Senator's father, Ron Book, looks on. (Photo: Hali Tauxe/Democrat)

“I’ve had fun over the years at the front door, mostly making people laugh and smile –especially the ones that come in with a bad mood or are down, I can usually make ‘em smile.”

Why?

“I don’t know. I guess it’s just me.”

“He’s never met a stranger,” says Senate Sergeant at Arms Tim Hay.

In the time that he's worked with Hunt, Hay says he's seen him defuse difficult or tense situations by bringing “the right touch of kindness and humor.”

When tempers are running hot and policy issues have members at loggerheads, Hay says “Tommy has the ability to put things in perspective and bring people into a better place.”

On Wednesday with the session winding down, Hunt poses for a selfie with Rep. Jamie Grant, R-Tampa, in front of the Senate doors. The picture is for Grant’s mother, who asks Grant all the time: “have you seen Tommy?”

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Tommy Hunt, right, poses for a selfie with Rep. Jamie Grant, R-Tampa, in front of the Senate doors Wednesday, March 7, 2018. Hunt has known Grant and his parents since his father, John Grant was a state Senator in the '80s and '90s.(Photo: Hali Tauxe/Democrat)

“He’s known me since I was in diapers,” says Grant, now 35. He says Hunt kept him from getting in too much trouble as a kid at the Capitol when his father, John Grant, was a senator.

He remembers Hunt from back then as “a gracious face that welcomed everybody and treated me like family when he had no reason to.”

“So many things get talked about in the process — the politics — and people don’t always see the relationships that spread across race or gender or party or ideology,” Grant said.

“There’s a lot of special relationships in the building and Tommy exemplifies that.”

The relationships that cross party lines and reach between chambers are one of Hunt’s favorite parts of the job. In three decades of changing times, the thing he laments is that the legislators and Capitol staff don’t get to spend as much time together as they used to.

“Back in the old days when I first started, we interacted together a lot more.”

Things are busier now, he says.

The fun days, he says, were when smoking was allowed in the fourth floor rotunda and people would gather there after the day’s business. On days they worked past 5, a bar was even set up between the chambers. Most days everyone ate together or went out afterward.

But they still find time for bonding after hours.

“I’ve done a lot of crazy things I guess, like wearing the elf suit.”

Tommy Hunt poses as the "Elf on the Shelf" in the Senate chambers for Then-Senate President Andy Gardiner's kids.(Photo: Tommy Hunt/Submitted)

A few years ago, Hunt posed as the “Elf on the Shelf” in the Senate chambers for then-Senate President Andy Gardiner to show his kids.

Hunt has also been around for some historic moments at Florida’s Capitol, like the bitterly contested election between George W. Bush and Al Gore in 2000.

“It was amazing just to see so many different press from around the world. I mean our portico out here was covered all the way around with newscasters from everywhere in the world.”

The recent gun reform rally held in conjunction with visits from the Parkland survivors, Hunt says, ranks among the most memorable events. He says it’s the largest crowd he’s ever seen in front of the Old Capitol, and the students were the best group that’s visited during his tenure.

“It was just amazing to see all them kids and what they did.”

Having spent so many years behind the scenes, what does Hunt think about politics?

“No. No more.” No interest? “No. No more," he said. "I’m gonna watch cartoons when I get out of here.”